In the next place it is essential
for the king to exercise self-control over himself and demand self-control of
his subjects, to the end that with sober rule and seemly submission there shall
be no wantonness on the part of either.
For the ruin of the ruler and the
citizen alike is wantonness. But how would anyone achieve self-control if he
did not make an effort to curb his desires, or how could one who was
undisciplined make others temperate?
One can mention no study except
philosophy that develops self-control. Certainly it teaches one to be above
pleasure and greed, to admire thrift and to avoid extravagance; it trains one
to have a sense of shame, and to control one's tongue, and it produces
discipline, order, and courtesy, and in general what is fitting in action and
in bearing.
In an ordinary man when these
qualities are present they give him dignity and self-command, but if they are
present in a king they make him preeminently godlike and worthy of reverence.
I will
sometimes hear people claim that there doesn’t need to be any conformity
between the private and the public, between the moral and the political. Such
thinking, whatever party or school it may come from, is grounded on the premise
that efficiency matters more than character, that profit is more important than
principle.
“What
difference does it really make if he cheats on his wife, or neglects his children,
or treats the people around him like garbage? He’s getting the job done, right?
I don’t care what kind of man he is, as long as he gives us results.”
Surely
this depends on what sort of job we want done, on what kind of results we are
expecting. If we want a society that is ordered toward power and influence,
then it makes sense to entrust it to powerful and influential people. But if we
want a society that is ordered toward virtue, wouldn’t it make more sense
to entrust it to virtuous people?
Performance
and competence are about the means, and will be pointless if they are not
directed toward the proper ends. For there to be a just community, those who
build it need to both know and practice justice. For all of us to live with
temperance, we need to follow the sort of folks who know and practice
temperance.
“But
he’s a go-getter!”
Where is he going? What is he getting? We ask entirely the
wrong questions.
"Yes, but
everyone makes mistakes, right? Give him a break.”
Human
nature, because it is built on the act of free judgment, is prone to error, and
wisdom always asks us to be compassionate and forgiving. There is a difference,
however, between making a mistake and insisting on a mistake. The good man
corrects his errors, while the bad man justifies them and compounds them. It
takes a good man to inspire others, while a bad man tells us to do what he
says, not what he does.
Temperance
or self-control, the mastery of our own passions, is one of the four cardinal
virtues, and as such is a necessary component of any aspect of human life,
whether private or public.
It is
also, I suggest, the virtue that requires the most immediate and rigorous commitment
of them all. If I cannot tame my lust, or my anger, or my fear right here and
now, at this very moment when I am faced by the force of my feelings, then I am
of no use to myself at all.
And I
will also be of no use to anyone else, for a man who will not rule himself has
no authority in helping others to rule themselves.
I could
learn all sorts of things about politics, and law, and banking, either from my
schooling or on the job, and I would still be ignorant of self-control. It
won’t just appear automatically, or somehow seep in from my parents, or follow
as a by-product from rubbing shoulders with the successful people around me. It
would be a great mistake to assume that decency will manage to grow up in me
eventually.
No, I
will need to nurture my virtues, and I can begin with the simple exercise of
taking the reins of my desires. This will require philosophy, not in an
academic sense but in a deeply personal sense, where my appetites will be
guided by my reason. Decisions, sometimes very hard ones, will have to made,
and then I will have to follow that long road of practice, the one that leads to
good habits.
Written in 9/1999
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